Air India fleeced us, say Indians rescued from Egypt

MUMBAI - Indians who were brought back to the country from strife-ridden Egypt on special Air India flights complained Tuesday of being overcharged by the national carrier, which justified the fares charged from the passengers.

“While I appreciate the effort made by the airline to bring us back to India, I was taken aback when I had to pay Rs.45,000 to fly back,” said telecom professional Pankaj Sharma, who went to Cairo on a business trip. He returned Monday.

“The normal one-way fare to Egypt would not exceed Rs.20,000. But what was also troubling was that the airline wanted to be paid in cash,” said one of his co-passengers, who did not want to be named.

A total of 600 Indians were flown back to India from Egypt by Air India on two flights. The first plane carrying 320 passengers arrived Monday. The second plane landed in Mumbai early Tuesday with 280 Indians on board.

Officials of Air India justified the fares charged from passengers, saying it was an unscheduled commercial operation with no profit and was not an evacuation operation which normally offers subsidised travel.

“The government of India had requested the airline to conduct this unscheduled commercial operation, without making any profits as a flag carrier. This was not an evacuation,” said an Air India official.

“We do not have any scheduled flights to Cairo. Our Boeing 747 aircraft which has a capacity of 423 seats, was specially flown to Cairo to bring back those passengers who wanted to return to India. For such an operation there are costs involved and that was recovered,” the official added, reiterating that the airline did not make any profits.

The government decided to deploy the flag carrier on what is technically called an unscheduled commercial operation and not an evacuation in which the fares are subsidised, he said.

Since Air India does not fly to Cairo, the one-time costs involved in parking charges, check-in facilities and ground handling during this operation were quite high. In such operations the aircraft has virtually no cargo to supplement the earning from the flight, the official said.

The passengers who took the Air India flights to Mumbai from Cairo also complained about being forced to pay the fare in cash. They said the ATM at the Cairo Airport did not dispense cash and there was no way they could be carrying the amount in cash.

“There were several passengers who did not have cash, nor could they withdraw money from ATMs. Such people were made to sign an undertaking by the airline which stated that the amount will have to be paid within a month or else their passports will stand cancelled by the Government of India,” Sharma said.

Flight schedules in and out of Egypt have been disrupted in the past few days after anti-government protests broke out in the country to press for the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power for more than three decades.

Over 100 people have been killed and hundreds injured in the clashes. Around 1,000 people have been arrested across the country as the uprising against the Mubarak government entered its eighth day Tuesday.